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Churubusco advances

CHURUBUSCO — For Churubusco’s football team, the season will last at least one more week.The Eagles defeating visiting Eastside by a final of 28-13 in a sectional quarterfinal Friday. ’Busco will go on to play at Bremen next week in a sectional semifinal.Churubusco had already beaten its Northeast Corner Conference rival once this year. The Eagles beat the Blazers 31-13 for their homecoming game in ’Busco.Like the first game in September, Eastside struck early. The Blazers took a 13-0 lead before losing earlier this year, and Friday they got on the board on the second play of the game when P.J. Dean ran it in from 48 yards out.“They’re tough to defend because they have so many athletes, they spread the ball around and they’re fast,” said Churubusco Head Football Coach Paul Sade.But after that initial burst, the Eagles kept Eastside mostly bottled up for the rest of the game, only allowing six points from the Blazers the rest of the way.Churubusco had a balanced night scoring with one touchdown in each quarter. The Eagles got it done on the ground, with Kane Johnson having 189 yards on 17 carries and Cody Conwell having 131 yards off 19 carries. Johnson had one touchdown and Conwell two.“Cody had a big night and Kane had a big night,” Sade said.Beau Barkley had 82 yards on just five carries and Logan Harris carried it for 31 yards. Barkley had the fourth touchdown for Churubusco.“We spread the ball around more than what we have in the past couple of weeks,” Sade said. “Beau and Logan made big plays when we needed them.”Conwell had the first quarter touchdown for ’Busco, capping a 10-play drive with a one-yard scoring plunge.Johnson had a 70-yard run for the second-quarter touchdown to give the Eagles the lead going into halftime at 14-7.Conwell scored on a four-yard run in the third and Barkley in the fourth.Eastside threatened with one more drive in the fourth quarter, down 28-13, but Barkley picked off a Blazer pass in the end zone to end the threat.Now, the ninth-ranked Eagles will play a sectional semifinal against another ranked opponent — 14th-ranked Bremen.While ’Busco has the higher ranking this year and a better record (8-2 to 7-3), Sade made no mistake about the strength of the Lions’ football tradition.“They’re a very, very class football program,” Sade said. “A football program we would aspire to be like. It will be a good opportunity for our kids to see how they stack up.”Bremen has 11 sectional titles and two state championships in its history.That contest will take place next week on Friday, Nov. 1.